Netanyahu backs both status quo and change for women at Western Wall

After opposing court ruling allowing women to pray with Torah, PM’s office backs down, looks for third way

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged Tuesday to find a solution for women wishing to read from the Torah at the Western Wall, while upholding the status quo that bans them from doing so, a statement from his office said Tuesday.

“The prime minister is committed to preserving the status quo at the Western Wall. The prime minister is also committed to the process led by the cabinet secretary to formulate an agreed-upon plan for prayer at the Western Wall, for all the streams of Judaism,” the statement said.

Earlier Tuesday, sources in the Prime Minister’s Office told Army Radio that Netanyahu would support the status quo at the Jerusalem holy site in a state response to a High Court of Justice petition demanding that women be permitted to bring Torah scrolls into their section.

The petition was submitted by the Women of the Wall group, which seeks to promote women’s prayer rights at the site and has long advocated for permission to bring Torah scrolls into the women’s section as part of their services, which is prohibited under the rules of the site.

Illustrative photo of women dancing with a Torah scroll at the Western Wall, April 20, 2015. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

In a November speech, Netanyahu espoused support for efforts to make the Western Wall more inclusive.

Speaking at the Jewish Federations of North America’s annual General Assembly, Netanyahu said he hoped his government would reach the “long overdue understanding that will ensure that the Kotel [Western Wall] will be a source of unity for the Jewish people, not a point of division.”

“As prime minister of Israel, I will always ensure that all Jews can feel at home in Israel, Reform Jews, Conservative Jews, Orthodox Jews,” Netanyahu pledged.

PM Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the Jewish Federations General Assembly in Washington DC on November 10, 2015 (photo credit: Ron Sachs, JFNA)

In a Tuesday post on its website, Women of the Wall criticized what it called Netanyahu’s “double speak,” writing: “PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s stance on women’s rights at the Kotel has gotten lost on translation…Apparently when Netanyahu spoke of ‘all’ Jews in November 2015, he forgot that women make up half of all Jews.”

“It is our hope that Netanyahu will not ban women from reading Torah, however if he does bend to the pressure of the [ultra-Orthodox] parties, Women of the Wall will continue to read Torah in the women’s section of the Kotel. Even if we must hide our Torah scroll and smuggle it past the guards, we will do so just as Jews have been forced to do so many times before us in exile.”

Raoul Wootliff and Rebecca Shimoni Stoil contributed to this report.